| Morning from a drizzly Asheville |
| If this week's housing news has a through-line, it's that the stiffness is going out of the market — buyers are asking for more and getting it, and builders are paying real money to close deals. Naturally, the headline writers picked this exact moment to discover foreclosures. Let's start there. |
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By the numbers
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628,000
New-home sales annual pace
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9.3
Months of supply on market
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$398,300
Median new-home price
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1.Foreclosures are up 21%. Don't panic.
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2.The scam that steals a house with paperwork
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3.Negotiations are back on the table
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4.Builders are in a dealing mood
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The lead · REALITY CHECK
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Foreclosures are up 21%. Don't panic.
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| You'll probably see that number in a headline soon, and HousingWire's advice is blunt: don't fall for a fake foreclosure crisis. |
| Foreclosure activity has spent years at unusually low levels, so a climb back toward normal produces a big-sounding percentage without a big change underneath. HousingWire points at the fundamentals: new listings remain low, and homeowner equity remains high. |
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Why it matters: Your equity cushion is in better shape than that headline implies — and if you're a buyer hoping a foreclosure wave will bring bargain prices, this data says not to plan around one.
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Read at HousingWire →
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SCAM WATCH
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The scam that steals a house with paperwork
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| Deed theft — scammers moving a home's title out of the owner's name with forged paperwork — remains a growing threat, HousingWire reports, especially for seniors and Black homeowners. |
| The piece walks through red flags with a New York City real estate attorney, and they're mostly aimed at agents and title officers, because the fraud tends to surface in transaction paperwork before the owner hears a word. On the homeowner side, awareness is most of the defense: treat any unexpected mail about your deed, or an out-of-nowhere 'we can help with your title' call, with real suspicion. Many county Register of Deeds offices also offer a free alert that emails you when anything gets recorded against your property — worth finding out if yours does. |
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Why it matters: If you or your parents own a home free and clear, that recording alert plus a healthy distrust of title-related surprises is cheap protection for what's probably the family's biggest asset.
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Read the full story →
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MARKET SHIFT
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Negotiations are back on the table
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| Keeping Current Matters reports the 'take it or leave it' attitude is fading: more buyers are asking for better deals, and more sellers are saying yes. |
| That's a real change from the past few years, when a seller could shrug off requests and wait for the next offer in line. If you're listing this summer, plan for some give-and-take — closing-cost help or repairs after inspection are normal asks again, not insults. If you're buying, the polite ask is finally worth making. |
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Why it matters: Whether you're the buyer or the seller this summer, build a little back-and-forth into your plan, because the deals getting done right now include it.
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Read at Keeping Current Matters →
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NEW BUILDS
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Builders are in a dealing mood
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| June Census data puts new-home sales at a 628,000 annual pace with 9.3 months of supply on the market, and the median price slipped to $398,300. |
| Those are national numbers, but they explain the mood: with sales stuck in a 600,000-to-700,000 range, HousingWire reports builders are leaning on rate buydowns — paying to lower a buyer's mortgage rate — rather than starting more homes. If you tour a model home around here, treat the sticker price as the opening of the conversation. |
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Why it matters: If a new build is on your list, ask directly what the builder will do on your mortgage rate — right now that question tends to have a real answer.
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Read the full story →
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Quick hits
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• ICE's June numbers back the calm read on distress: mortgage delinquency held at 3.55%, and new FHA defaults fell 15% from a year ago. →
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• If the past few summers priced you out or wore you down, KCM argues this one looks different — more homes to choose from and better prices. →
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• Americans have named real estate their favorite long-term investment for 14 years running, ahead of stocks, gold, savings accounts, and bonds, per Keeping Current Matters. →
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Tip of the week
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Walk your house in the rain
Asheville's drizzling as this lands in your inbox, which makes it the right afternoon for this: put on a jacket and slowly circle your house while the water's moving. You're looking for gutters spilling over, downspouts dumping right at the foundation, and low spots where runoff parks against the crawlspace — the things a dry-day walkthrough can't show you. Catch them now and the fix is usually a cheap Saturday project; catch them at inspection time and they're a negotiation item with your name on it.
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How was this issue?
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Until next week,
Priya, broker-in-charge
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| P.S. One more on the deed-theft story: if a letter or a call about your home's title ever feels off, forward it to us before you sign anything. We'd rather check out a false alarm than watch you untangle the real thing. |